I thought this was NAP “embarrass yourself with your past” week on the podcast, but apparently it wasn’t, but given that 9 minutes of the tail end of this week’s podcast is dedicated to Ultra Hummus, which will be a polarizing experience for most, some explaining is in order.
I left Houston in May of ’98 for Portland. Prior to my departure, it was decided that Ultra Hummus should throw a farewell show, since it might be our last gig. (As it turned out, it wasn’t, but anyway.)
For those who don’t already know, Ultra Hummus was most frequently Derek Ultra (myself) on drums and Jorge Hummus (Conor) on guitar. But Ultra Hummus seemed to bring out crazy ideas in other people. There was the DJ of the MK-Ultra show, Sandeep, and wouldn’t MK Ultra Hummus be a brilliant idea? Or maybe getting twenty people on stage and having the Ultra Hummus Extended Ensemble? Or if we played a bunch of Christmas carols on KTRU with friends? Or if we hooked up a bunch of Atari 2600s and people played videogames along with us? It would be, of course, Ultra Hummus 2600.
(The Christmas carol thing had happened months prior. There’s a recording of it somewhere. Our version of “The 12 Days of Christmas” always made me happy.)
Anyway so it was time to have this farewell and, what the hell, let’s make it all happen. We brought along a bunch of other bands: Big Science, Astrogenic Hallucinauting, and Freshmakers frontman Jeremy Hart (who I think was playing under the name Moonrocket, IIRC).
Should I name names? I don’t know. I will. If I omit responsible people, forgive me. John Paul Yabraian and Jeffrey Rios spent part of the day canvassing the city, Blues Brothers-style, rousing people from the PA in John Paul’s car and informing them about the show. Jeffrey and Andy Campbell (who was oft the third Hummus, Robbie Ganoush) also organized the assembly of the 2600 component of Ultra Hummus 2600 – through some kind of wizardry, there were two 2600s plexed into 8 TVs, with a variety of games.
[Ultra Hummus 2600 was sort of a debacle, in that as soon as we started playing nobody could hear the 2600s, because we didn't mic the televisions. 8 TVs at full blast was apparently no match for us on stage. Also, during their set, Big Science started throwing around cups of water near the TVs, which pissed me off greatly, but nothing got destroyed.]
The track I’ve put on this week was possibly during the 2600 part of the set. I say possibly because everything got messy and fluid and lines were blurred, guests joined us on stage with little prompting, etc. Also I brought a keyboard to that show and added it to our arsenal, so some of the blooping may be that.
But this is what memory does. Above and beyond the drums and guitar there are random sounds that pop in and I can’t tell what sounds are what or made by who. And I hadn’t listened to this for years and years. Possibly ever. I feel weird listening to my own music. And there was always an element of Ultra Hummus that was, for me I suppose, not entirely serious. After playing in a band that toured and put out a CD and all that, here I was in this band that had no chance of commercial success, which was fine. No stress, just the joy of playing.
But what I had missed in my memory is perhaps what made Ultra Hummus a more enduring memory for many than I’d have ever participated. (I was sort of shocked that anyone even remembered us, much less as fondly as Ramon, for instance, has repeatedly claimed to.) What I missed was this sort of essential purity of concept that was weirdly, effortlessly natural for us, despite the fact that it was rooted in conflict (Conor wanting to play more traditional songs, me wanting to play more free/noise, each of us indulging and frustrating the other by turns). Somehow, we went for the sun, and while I would never be conceited enough to say that we got there, I would say that we couldn’t have been any more *us*.
Werner Herzog is a touchstone here, and I just got a 6-DVD set of his documentaries and early films in the mail, so he’s been on my mind this week. As a budding filmmaker, I’ve been somewhat jealous of Herzog, because he has a clear vision unencumbered by analysis and second-guessing. Cinematically, he heads for the sun every time, regardless of what logistical, rational, financial, or physical obstacles are in the way.
I bring that up because I think Ultra Hummus is as close to a Herzogian project as I’ve ever done, and possibly ever will do. I remember sitting there, at the end of the night, walking off the stage, while some members of the Extended Ensemble continued to make noise, and thought about leaving Houston and moving to Portland, leaving all these friends, going some place new and trying to explain what had just transpired, TVs still blooping away with YARS’ REVENGE and ASTEROIDS, Rick Sawyer wearing tinfoil on his head and farting around with a synthesizer, feedback ringing in everyone’s ears, my shirt drenched with sweat, and I turned to a friend – I can’t remember who – and said “I’ll never be able to ever explain this to anybody in Portland.”
And to the best of my recollection, I never tried. And now that I’ve tried explaining it here, I’m not sure I should have.
Some things are better left unexplained.
Ultra Hummus’s MySpace page is here. Conor’s most recent musical adventure as Lordosis* can be heard here. And some day, Ultra Hummus may rise again, should geography and pragmatics permit.
*Trivia fact: Lordosis was a proposed and rejected name for Ultra Hummus. It refers to the position of sexual arousal in the female hamster.
Ultrahummus was one of the greatest bands ever….I mean I put “Straight Outta Droubis” up there with my copy of “Highway 61 Revisited” or “Funhouse” or well you name it; it’s a great album!
I still remember walking into Linus rehearsal, hearing guitar and drum sound, and one person saying “What the fuck is that?!!!” With a goofy happy grin on my face I said “Oh man that can only be one thing!!!!!” and I raced over to find (of course) Ultrahummus next door!
God bless the Ultrahummus and all those who sail with her!
Ah, memories. As I recall, that was the first show we had ever played where, when we started playing, people moved from outside the venue to inside, rather than the reverse (like at the Commerce Street Arists’ Warehouse’s Buzz Fest, where I think Joel Orr may have been the only one left by the time we finished, hehe).
Weird, I don’t remember the Big Science water throwing thing. Must’ve been some sort of scientific experiment. With regard to Ultra Hummus 2600, I don’t remember if we had considered the audio portion of the Atari’s or not. I think the main idea was that we would improvise along with the action of the video games, as if we were providing a soundtrack to a silent movie.
I spent part of the day with John Paul doing the PA stuff from his truck. It was fun talking to people on the street like, “Hey, you there in the yellow shirt! Come tonight to the Oven on Westheimer Street to see the final performance of Ultra Hummus! The finest in noise entertainment will be yours for only a few dollars. One night only!”, etc. etc. I wish I could remember exactly what we said. After turning a corner by the Walgreens on Montrose, we came face to face with the KLOL van, which had a similar PA system. I can’t remember if we just taunted them, or told them to advertise the show on air instead of whatever crap they were promoting, heh.
Where would we be without our #1 fan (and, coincidently, our one fan), Ramon? Thanks man!
I’ll have you know that one of my submissions was along this “embarass yourself with your past” theme. I’ll let you figure out which one it is.
I’ve been very tempted to skip immediately to the end of the podcast, so’s I can get a little taste of hummus, but I’m forcing myself to be patient.
Is this Rick Sawyer you mention the same Rick Sawyer who attended St. Thomas H.S. in the late 80′s, early 90′s, with sister Katie and little brother Brian?
I remember hearing about JP’s human-flyer dealie but I wasn’t at the show so I can only imagine that I was either out of town or playing that night as well. Too bad for me. I’m sorry I missed Ultrahummus but I did listen to that crazy shit on the podcast. I like those types of room recordings, you can hear conversations and all sorts of weird noises in the background that become part of the whole. I’m about to sit down to a plate of Tricia’s chickpeas and couscous. I will think of UH.
Hey, I just stumbled on this page while doing a web search for something else!
Ah yes, I remember the Ultra Hummus 2600 set-up very well, although somehow I had forgotten that it was for Ultra Hummus’s last show! Of course, that would make sense that we would all go the extra mile for the grand finale.
The TVs and 2600s were all borrowed from friends for the day and carted around in my Ford Escort. The yards and yards of Aux cable and splitters were purchased at Radio Shack that day at some expense, but thanks to Andy C.’s brilliant suggestion, we returned them to the store the next day for a refund, after one very good use.
I do vaguely remember fiddling with the TV monitor sound, but in the end I don’t think it was that important.
I do remember being worried the audience, at times near the start of the set, was paying more attention to the action on the screens than to you guys. But I think I was being paranoid.
I don’t remember driving around with John Paul that day, but it could have happened. You may be conflating this with the time we drove around selling books from our mobile Eighthprice Books bookmobile.